Month: July 2009

Dr. Ernst Pernicka, a German archeologist who is leading the excavation of Troy, has stated that establishing a Trojan museum is a priority on both his and Turkey’s agenda.

Pernicka noted that the establishment of such a museum requires the support of politicians and their advocacy for the return of Priam’s Treasures and other pieces from the site currently on display in museums in other countries, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Pernicka stated that recent decisions by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism regarding the potential Trojan museum are very positive developments both for him and for fans of Troy worldwide.

Pernicka, underlining the steps put forward toward the opening of an international architectural contest this summer, continued: “Of course, after the creation of a Trojan museum, we will have hope in terms of bringing the Trojan treasure and Trojan pieces from other places around the world back to Turkey. However, we are not the authority in this. The deal, as a whole, depends on the decisions of politicians. Of course, everyone’s goal is the creation of the museum and the exhibition of these pieces.”

The head of Troy’s excavation team pointed out that Troy is important for the world for several reasons.

The German archeologist, recalling that Troy is the setting of one of the earliest masterpieces of European literature, noted: “This is the place where the events in ‘The Iliad’ happened. Moreover, the start of archaeology and the point where it turned into a science emerged here. The evolution of Troy started here. The exit point of Aegean archaeology together with the digs performed here is again Troy. This land has several peculiarities. We can multiply these through exploration, but Troy captures one of the most important places in the world’s cultural heritage.” Pernicka pointed out that as the Trojan horse has been famous for 2,500 years and since the site was valued as a holy place during antiquity, tourism in Troy started eons ago and still continues today.

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A unique Aramaic inscription on a stone cup commonly used for ritual purity during the first century has been uncovered in a dig on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, an archeologist said Wednesday.

The six-week excavation is being carried out within the Gan Sobev Homot Yerushalayim national park, close to the Zion Gate of the Old City.

The 10-line Aramaic script, which is clear but cryptic, is being deciphered by a team of epigraphic experts in an effort to determine the meaning of the text, said Prof. Shimon Gibson, of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who is co-directing the excavation.

“This is a difficult script, not one that is worn or graded, which demands research,” Gibson said.

He estimated that it would take a couple of months to determine what the inscription says.

“It is like digging out grandparents’ hand-written letters,” he quipped.

Gibson said the find uncovered two weeks ago was rare because few inscriptions from the Second Temple Period had been discovered in Jerusalem.

The dig also uncovered a sequence of building dating from the First and Second Temple periods through to the Byzantine and Early Islamic eras.

The additional finds include a house complex with a mikve ritual bath featuring a remarkably well preserved vaulted ceiling.

Three bread ovens – dated to 70 CE, when Titus and the Roman army stormed the city – were also found in the house.

Archeologists believe that this area of Jerusalem’s Upper City was the priestly quarter during Second Temple times.

A large arched building with a mosaic floor from the Byzantine period preserved to a height of 3 meters was also uncovered. It may be part of a building complex or street associated with the nearby Church of St. Mary.

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TV Squad is looking at some up-and-coming shows and the Spartacus series is one of them. Here’s some info on Lucy Lawless’ role:

During the Spartacus panel, Lawless was asked if she’s going to be naked during the first season, as the show involves a lot of sex scenes. “I’m afraid so,” she said. She plays Lucretia, a “proprietor of a camp for gladiators.” She takes up with a gladiator in the hope of having a baby. It’s tough for her to do those scenes because, while she tries to keep in fantastic shape, “when you get on set, you get the ‘freshman 15’,” she told the scrum afterwords.

Near the end of the scrum, I asked her if she thought a certain fanboy segment (coughXenacough) will be happy to see her nude. Her response included her experience seeing Caligula when she was a teenager. Say one thing for Lucy; she’s not the demure type.

In the “more than we need to know” department, apparently the show utilizes a prosthetic for when the various gladiators appear nude. Yes, that kind of prosthetic. “We had to create the ‘Kirk Douglas’, as it’s aptly named, so people had a prosthetic they could wear,” said EP Rob Tappert. Lawless said they hang it up in the prop truck “next to all the merkins.” Must be a fun set.

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Jo Marchant (Decoding the Heavens) writes, inter alia, in a post at New Scientist:

I gave a talk on the device at London’s Royal Institution last night. One new clue I mentioned to the origin of the mechanism comes from the Olympiad dial – there are six sets of games named on the dial, five of which have been deciphered so far. Four of them, including the Olympics, were major games known across the Greek world. But the fifth, Naa, was much smaller, and would only have been of local interest.

The Naa games were held in Dodona in northwestern Greece, so Alexander Jones of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York has suggested that the mechanism must have been made by or for someone from that area.

Intriguingly, this could mean the device is even older than thought. The inscriptions have been dated to around 100 BC, but according to Jones the device may have been made at latest in the early second century BC, because after that the Romans devastated or took over the Greek colonies in the region, so it’s unlikely that people would still have been using the Greek calendar there.

That festival should be called “Naia”, I think, in honour of Zeus Naios. Whatever the case, I’m not sure one can infer that with Aemilius Paulus’ destructive foray into the area around Dodona that a calendar would cease to be used, especially in a religious context — Dodona presumably would be using the calendar of Epirus, about which I don’t think we know very much.

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after 101 B.C. — dedication of the Temple to “The Fortune of this Day” (Fortuna Huiusce Diei) and subsequent rites thereafter; presumably this is one of the temples vowed prior to the Battle of Vercellae

69 A.D. — destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (Av 9)

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rogueclassicism: 1. n. an abnormal state or condition resulting from the forced migration from a lengthy Classical education into a profoundly unClassical world; 2. n. a blog about Ancient Greece and Rome compiled by one so afflicted (v. "rogueclassicist"); 3. n. a Classics blog.